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On a new Wrestling Weekly, Les Thatcher and Vic Sosa go over a ton of items this week including WWE’s decision to do a U.S. house show tour this summer.
We also discuss Kevin Nash’s thoughts on TKO affecting WWE’s booking process, AEW’s busy week outside the ring and how not to make it obvious that something has gone wrong in the middle of a match.
Thanks for listening and have a great weekend~!
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After a lengthy absence on the injured list, Brian Cage returned to action on Wednesday’s AEW Dynamite in a surprise appearance.
Cage answered TNT Champion Kevin Knight’s open challenge, eventually falling in defeat. Cage did keep his alliance in the Don Callis Family, coming out with Lance Archer, Rocky Romero and Trent Beretta.
The 42-year-old last appeared in AEW as part of the March 19 episode of Collision in a trios match. He wrestled for an indie promotion the following night, suffering a serious knee injury against Chris Masters that required surgery.
Cage made his in-ring return last month for an indie promotion, one of three matches he’s had since being cleared to wrestle.
He’s been part of AEW since May 2020’s Double or Nothing when he made his debut in a Casino ladder match. During his time, he’s never held AEW gold but did have an extended run with the ceremonial FTW title in addition to runs as ROH TV Champion and ROH Six-Man Tag Team Champion.
Brian Cage came to Darby Allin’s defense against critics calling out his AEW World Championship win being undeserving and a few fearing it could end up being a transitional title reign.
Cage took to X acknowledging the backlash and dismissed them to praise Allin’s AEW contributions. He wrote that Allin consistently works hard to bring fresh and creative ideas each week. Cage also gave him his stamp of approval.
“I’ve noticed some criticism over @DarbyAllin winning the @AEW title. First and foremost, this guy absolutely deserves it. He’s not only a phenomenal in ring worker and bleeds aew, but this guy is the epitome of getting yourself over. Darby kills himself week after week, in a new, creative, and destructive way. Yet somehow gets back up, again and again.”
“I’m “the” bodyguy, and yes, Darby is very small. But he has fought harder than anyone to get the people behind him, and has become very believable in his matches. So huge stamp of a approval from me to have him as world champion. And bonus points for the shock pop and the call back headlock takeover finish,” tweeted Cage.
Allin captured his first AEW World Title win from MJF at Dynamite: Spring BreakThru. He signed with AEW in 2019, since it’s establishment and is often regarded as one of the four pillars in the promotion alongside MJF, Sammy Guevara and Jack Perry.
Allin had Sting by his side for most of his AEW career, and he made a surprise appearance to greet him after World Championship victory. Sting spoke highly of Allin and expressed pride on his AEW accolade.
This week on Dynamite, Allin had his first title defense against Tommaso Ciampa. Following the match, Brody King confronted the champion and challenged him to a title match for the next week’s edition of the AEW program.
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Update —
Before this May event, Brian Cage is set to compete against Jack Cartwheel in Las Vegas on April 17 at a block party in memory of ECW legend Sabu.
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Absent from in-ring action for nearly a year, Brian Cage is now all set to make his wrestling return.
Cage, 42, is set to return to the ring on May 15 at Warrior Wrestling Hallowed Ground. This would mark his first match since March 2025.
The first-ever Warrior Champion Cage’s return match is scheduled to take place at Warrior Wrestling Hallowed Ground on May 15 at the Bendix Arena South Bend.
Cage underwent three knee surgeries in 2025 and has not wrestled a match since his last one in March 2025 against Chris Masters.
Previously, while speaking to Muscle and Fitness, Cage had opened up about receiving his in-ring return clearance.
“I haven’t made my return yet. I just got cleared fully from everyone to be able to come back so then, there’s the hopes of that too, of like, okay, this is a perfect way to press restart and start new and come back and re-debut in a good way, in a new way, bigger way, whatever, and make the best of a bad situation,” Cage said.
Absent from in-ring action for nearly a year, AEW wrestler Brian Cage recently announced himself cleared for a return.
In an interview with Muscle and Fitness, Cage opened up about his in-ring clearance and the details behind it (H/t Fightful).
“I haven’t made my return yet. I just got cleared fully from everyone to be able to come back so then, there’s the hopes of that too, of like, okay, this is a perfect way to press restart and start new and come back and re-debut in a good way, in a new way, bigger way, whatever, and make the best of a bad situation,” Cage said.
“I had the match to get cleared yesterday, and one of the things he wanted me to do was get up to just the second rope and jump off. The other guy, he moves, and I just have to land on my feet… which is, like, nothing, right? But in my head, I go, can I do that? I’m like, I don’t know. It’s not that crazy, but you don’t know… I have post-surgery knees. I’m like, wait, can I? I don’t know. I guess we’ll find out, and yeah, I did it. It was totally fine.”
Cage, 42, underwent three knee surgeries in 2025 and has not wrestled a match since his last one in March 2025 against Chris Masters. Speaking about his potential AEW return, Cage addressed the possibilities.
“I can’t wait, and I don’t know when or where or even how. There’s a few different possibilities… It’s almost too much now because the longer it is and the more I get hyped up — I said I’m listening to music — I don’t wanna have too high of expectations. I’m almost worried about that, like, hyping myself up too much to be let down where it won’t be as good as I want it to be.”
While still not made his official in-ring return, Cage also reflected on having a strained back after performing box jumps before his comeback.
“My first day back in the ring, I was rehabbing with my physical therapist while we were doing box jumps, all different jump stuff and I’m feeling good, and out of nowhere, for no reason, on a box jump, somehow I strain my back… Which makes no sense, right? I feel like maybe because I did so much glute and hamstring-heavy leg day beforehand, they were so sore, so maybe there was just no, my posterior chain couldn’t absorb the impact, so my lower back — I don’t know.
“It made no sense. It was like I did a crazy heavy deadlift… And now my knees aren’t killing me, but my back is killing me, and I’m like, ‘Well, I can’t not go,’ and of course it’s gonna happen now,” Cage continued. “So for the next two days, I had to go through that, and my back was killing (me), holding me up. I’m like, ‘No, I’m still gonna go through, I’m still gonna push through.”
Over 40 years of age and two decades of wrestling experience, Cage also detailed the chances of changing his in-ring style and potentially scaling back the high-flying moves to reserve them for bigger occasions.
Unfortunately, Brian Cage is not close to making his return to the ring.
The AEW star shared an update with fans on social media today, revealing that he will need to undergo another surgery despite his quad and left knee being repaired. Cage has been out of action since that injury happened in March. While sidelined, he decided to get a minimally invasive operation on his right knee in hopes that it would correct an issue he was having and he would be able to recover from the surgeries simultaneously. But, while trying to get cleared, Cage found out that he will need surgery again on the right knee.
“There is an issue on the operation I had on my right knee,” he wrote. “I was fighting an uphill battle that no amount of therapy, modalities, stem cells, peptides, etc [were] going to fix. I have to go back under the knife for them to try to fix or correct the situation.”
Cage was hoping that he would be back this month for AEW Full Gear. Instead, his return timeline remains unknown. It’s a situation where doctors are hoping for the best but won’t have a full picture of what’s going on until they go in to perform surgery.
Even if it’s the worst case scenario, Cage is optimistic that his right knee will be “phenomenally better” after surgery. He’s beyond devastated but is trying to stay positive.
“Once we get this fixed and back on track I’ll pick up the pieces I’ll rebuild and become a better version of ‘the machine’ once again,” he wrote.
Brian Cage is one step closer to literally being a machine after undergoing surgery for a second time in two months.
Cage revealed on Sunday that he’s already back in the gym four days after having his knee replaced. He’s also eight weeks removed from a separate surgery to repair a torn quad tendon. Cage said he opted for the knee replacement while already sidelined with the quad injury.
“4 days post knee replacement (8 weeks post quad tendon repair) and I’m already back in the gym @projectwellbeingllc. Love me, hate me, or somewhere in-between, you can’t deny I’m a fucking machine! I’ve been dealing with excessive knee pain for years and have been working through it with the intention of going under the knife after All In. With the unfortunate set back of tearing my quad, I figured F it, let’s just get em both done. Not an easy or fun choice, but I’m gonna come back ripping heads off. Especially if this is me right now after surgery. Shout out to @kingricochet for filming and getting our set in.”
Cage was injured while wrestling Chris Masters at an OWA show in Los Angeles on March 20. Originally reported as a knee injury, it forced a change to AEW’s Dynasty pay-per-view on April 6, where Cage and Lance Archer, the Murder Machines, were scheduled to challenge the Hurt Syndicate’s Bobby Lashley and Shelton Benjamin for the Tag Team Championships. Big Bill and Bryan Keith ended up replacing them in the match.
“The tag title match was a change as Brian Cage suffered a knee injury on an independent show on 3/20 in Los Angeles against Chris Masters,” Dave Meltzer wrote in the March 31 edition of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter. “So the originally planned but not announced Hurt Syndicate vs. Murder Machines match had to be changed and they had to pivot to new challengers, going with Bill & Keith.”
Cage has now been with AEW for over five years, having first signed in January 2020. He is a former FTW Champion and won the Casino Ladder Match at Double or Nothing 2020.
Brian Cage is already back in the gym as he progresses in his recovery from surgery.
Last month, Dave Meltzer reported that Cage suffered a knee injury during an indie match against Chris Masters. The injury resulted in AEW having to change up its plans for Dynasty 2025. Cage & Lance Archer were planned to challenge Bobby Lashley & Shelton Benjamin for the AEW Tag Team titles at the pay-per-view. Lashley & Benjamin instead ended up facing Big Bill & Bryan Keith.
Cage revealed on his Instagram Stories that he’s undergone surgery for the injury, and yesterday was his first day back in the gym. He called it an “awesome step forward” and is happy to be more mobile than he expected with so many friends coming into Las Vegas for WrestleMania week and all of the surrounding events.
“Got cleared to go to the gym, do some physical therapy, do a little bit of this, do a little bit of that. Awesome, awesome step forward,” he said. “Definitely [the] uplift that I needed today. Have a lot of friends coming in pretty soon here this week and weekend. I should be a little bit more mobile than I thought I would be. So, could be fun. Could be a good time.”
There hasn’t been an update on the exact nature of Cage’s injury or how long he’ll be out of action. On AEW Dynamite, Don Callis mentioned that the Don Callis Family is dealing with injuries at the moment and accepting new members. Both Cage and Mark Davis are injured right now.
An injury to Brian Cage led to a change in plans for AEW’s upcoming Dynasty pay-per-view.
In the new issue of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, Dave Meltzer confirmed that Bobby Lashley & Shelton Benjamin are scheduled to defend their AEW Tag Team titles against Big Bill & Bryan Keith at the Sunday, April 6 PPV in Philadelphia. It was originally supposed to be Cage & Lance Archer challenging for the belts, but Cage is dealing with a knee injury.
“The tag title match was a change as Brian Cage suffered a knee injury on an independent show on 3/20 in Los Angeles against Chris Masters,” Meltzer wrote. “So the originally planned but not announced Hurt Syndicate vs. Murder Machines match had to be changed and they had to pivot to new challengers, going with Bill & Keith.”
The build to Lashley & Benjamin vs. Big Bill & Keith began with a confrontation on Dynamite this week. After a challenge was issued, The Hurt Syndicate told Big Bill & Keith that they’ll need to win a match before they’ll be granted a title shot.
Big Bill & Keith vs. Top Flight is taking place on AEW Collision this Saturday.
Lashley & Benjamin were crowned the new AEW Tag Team Champions when they defeated Private Party this January. Big Bill is a former tag champ, holding the titles with Ricky Starks from October 2023 to February 2024.
A match between Cage and Rich Swann was scheduled for Future Stars of Wrestling’s Chris Bey benefit show on March 23, but Ricochet ended up facing Swann instead.
Brian Cage will defend the Ring of Honor men’s TV title at next Friday’s Final Battle in a six-way Survival of the Fittest match.
Cage will face AR Fox, Willie Mack, Mark Davis, Blake Christian and Komander in the elimination-style bout taking place at the Hammerstein Ballroom in New York City.
Cage has two title defenses since winning the gold at October’s WrestleDream, coming against Fox and Komander.
Here’s the current card for the HonorClub streaming special:
Several NJPW stars will be part of tonight’s Ring of Honor on HonorClub — a show that will also feature a men’s TV title defense.
In a non-title match, NEVER Openweight Champion Shingo Takagi will battle Ariya Daivari in Takagi’s first match for the promotion since June 2023.
NJPW men’s Strong Openweight Champion Gabe Kidd will battle Angelico in non-title action. It’s Kidd’s second ROH match and first since October’s title defense over Anthony Henry.
Tomohiro Ishii will face Mike Bennett as he looks to keep momentum going ahead of his challenge of ROH World Champion Chris Jericho Wednesday.
Kevin Knight will make his ROH debut as he faces Serpentico.
ROH men’s TV Champion Brian Cage defends against AR Fox while ROH Women’s World Champion Athena will also be in action, taking on Leila Grey in a Proving Ground match.
Shane Taylor & ROH Pure Champion Lee Moriarty will face JD Drake & Beef while The Righteous will make an appearance.
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All right, friends! You know the drill: Thursday, Ring of Honor, Honorclub. Now let’s get to the fights!
NJPW STRONG Openweight Champion Gabe Kidd defeated Angelico
KIdd brings to ROH the NJPW STRONG Openweight title, which you know is important because it has a lot of CAPITAL LETTERS. He retained that title against Anthony Henry on episode #85 of ROH on Honorclub back in October. Angelico would love to add that title to his collection, but sadly, this was a non-title match. No worries though, he’s cool.
Kidd started things off just like his title; strong. He rained down chops, shoves, kicks and stomps on Angelico. It wasn’t until Angelico managed to duck a lariat and deliver his own clotheslines that he got some offence in. Once he got moving though, Kidd seemed confused b the fluid style of Angelico. A punch to the face fixed that and brought the match back under Kidd’s control.
Kid launched himself at Angelico and managed to fold him up like an accordion. 1-2-3 and it was over, Kidd wins, and delivered a parting kick to the head for good measure.
Shane Taylor Promotions (Lee Moriarty & Shane Taylor) defeated BEEF & JD Drake
STP beat up a lot of people a couple of weeks ago. After adding The Infantry and Trish Adora to their ranks, they brawled with some nameless NPC’s in the back, and made their intentions to take the ROH tag belts away from Dustin Rhodes and Sammy Guevara vary, very clear. BEEF and Drake (which sounds like an excellent dinner special at a mid-sized pub) have been reluctantly teaming together since BEEF’s 2nd cousin and Drake’s normal tag partner Anthony Henry got hurt.
Moriarty and Taylor are an excellent team. They both have a particular set of skills that perfectly compliment each other. Drake started off against Taylor, but tagged BEEF in fairly quickly. The crowd was chanting for BEEF, but Taylor’s experience level was too much for him and Taylor sat him down hard.
This match was interesting in that it featured a lot more yelling at each other than a normal match would. Taylor’s trash talk is legendary, but BEEF was able to get a few shots in verbally too. Moriarty tagged in and matched up with Drake, who brought the chops until Taylor made a blind tag and clotheslined Drake into next week.
Taylor and Drake stood each other up and spent about 60 seconds just hitting one another. Not wrestling, just a brawl, and it was awesome. Drake got a hot tag to BEEF who fed some right hands to Moriarty. BEEF hit a big bulldog (or BEEFdog, as they kept calling it) and drake tagged in to slam Moriarty. Drake missed a big splash from the top and Taylor tagged in got a big splash on Drake to get the pin.
After the match, Top Flight jumped in and all of STP laid a beating on Drake and BEEF. Suddenly, they were interrupted by the Undisputed Kingdom of all people! Bennett and Taven ran off STP and jawed at them as the helped BEEF and Drake to their feet.
-The Righteous cut a promo from an undisclosed location. Dutch read a poem to Dustin Rhodes, his “long-lost brother.” He talked about how Rhodes’ father Dusty had loved him like a son. Soon, the Righteous will take those tag titles, and then everyone will know who Dusty really thought of as his son.
Kevin Knight defeated Serpentico
Kevin Knight (who I discovered quickly is NOT my cousin of the same name) has been hanging out in NJPW for the last couple of years with a guy named KUSHIDA. This would be his ROH debut, and who better to go up against than the Laid-Back Luchadore, Serpentico? Last week he and his SAP partner Angelico picked up a win (and Angelico a singles loss this week) and a singles victory would be icing on the very delicious cake.
Knight had a bit of a size adventage on Serpentico, buy you can never count Serpentico out (unless he leaves the ring for 20 seconds. But that didn’t happen). Anyway, it was a fast one off the top with Knight showing why his nickname is “the Jet” and Serpentico keeping up in a neon green blur.
Serpentico laid in a bunch of SuperPunches on Knight in the corner, but couldn’t put him away. Knight fought back and took Serpentico’s head off with a lariat. Knight hit a sky high slam followed by a running frog splash that was really impressive. Knight hit one hell of a kick (clearly inspired by Sami Zayn) and follow it up with a big clothesline to put Serpentico down for the count.
Tomohiro Ishii defeated Mike Bennett
You have to go all the way back to May of this year to find Bennett’s last singles match, which was a loss to Matt Menard. Since then, he’s been a big part of the Undisputed Kingdom stable, winning (and losing) the ROH Tag Titles and warring with The Conglomeration. Said Conglomeration features the membership of Tomohiro Ishii, so these two know each other well. Ishii has a date with Chris Jericho for the ROH title in the wings on Dynamite, so this was a heck of a warmup.
Ishii refused a code of honor from Bennett and the two locked up. Ishii had the power, but Bennett was able to match it as they two traded chops for what seemed like 45 minutes. It was actually about 5 though, as Ishii nailed Bennett with a shoulder and sent him into the corner. Bennett fought back with a lariat and knocked Ishii off his feet.
Bennett hit Ishii with a spear, but it seemed to hurt him more than Ishii. A big spinebuster followed that, but Ishii kicked out at two. Bennett tried to go up top but Ishii caught him and put him in a stalling suplex from the top rope. Ishii went for a brain buster and that was it for Bennett. Ishii nailed it and got the pin.
ROH CLASSIC MATCH: Jay Briscoe & Mark Briscoe vs. Katsuhiko Nakajima & Kensuke Sasaki (Final Battle 2008, December 27, 2008)
The attempted to give a reason for showing this match that made sense in-story, but it did not work. I’m pretty sure they showed this classic ROH match because it’s someone in production’s favourite match. That’s not a bad thing, mind you because it was a very, very good match! It deserves to be the favourite of the guy in production! Anyway, back in the here and now:
Shingo Takagi defeated Ariya Daivari
Takagi spent a lot of time in ROH between 2005-2008, but has only made a handful of appearances since then, choosing NJPW as his home where he’s done, well, just about everything. His last ROH match was in 2023 as part of a 6-man affair against pre-crisis Cage of Agony, The Mogul Embassy (Bishop Kaun, Brian Cage & Toa Liona). Daivari has been having mixed singles results lately, having lost to Tomohio Ishii, Komander and Sammy Guevara. With Mark Sterling in tow, Daivari and the Premier Athletes as a whole, needed a win here.
Daivari’d have his work cut out for him though with the much larger Takagi standing across the ring. Trying to outpower him did not work as Takagi returned everything Daivari threw at him with gusto. Even a cheap shot from behind that sent Takagi out of the ring didn’t really seem to do much to hurt him.
Daivari relied on his technical skills to work the arm of Takagi, taking away his big lariat. Takagi fought back though, drawing his second wind from the turnbuckle. He peppered Daivari with massive elbows, both front and back. Takagi went for a pumphandle slam but Sterling caused a distraction, letting Daivari hit a hammerlock DDT.
Daivari tried a clutch, but Takagi fought out of it and delivered a DDT of his own. Daivari ascaped up the ropes and tried a frog splash, but Takagi wasn’t done. On pure instinct he hit a massive lariat and then Last of The Dragon, a truly terrifying finisher, to get the pin.
PROVING GROUND MATCH: ROH Women’s World Champion Athena defeated Leila Grey
For those just joining us, this was a Proving Ground match. If Grey could pin the champion or last to a 10-minute time limit, she would get a shot at the ROH Women’s World Championship at a later date. Athena retained her title in October against Abadon, but there are plenty of women waiting in the wings to try and dethrone the Forever Champion, including disgruntled Minion in Training, Billie Starkz.
Athena took things with her usual seriousness, playing with Grey’s hair and running around the ring like an airplane. Grey jumped on this underestimation though, and got a couple of near falls off of some hard-hitting offense, and then sending Athena to the outside.
Athena turned the tables there, sending Grey’s face into the steel steps. Athena returned to the ring and Grey followed, right into the hands of the Champion with over three minutes gone in the match. All Grey had to do was last seven more minutes and she would get her title shot.
Grey started to pick up steam, hitting a bulldog that Athena kicked out of at two-and-three-quarters. Athena then started to bring out the big guns. Handspring slams in the corner, big power slams and lariats. She went to the top rope for the O Face, but Grey beat her to it and hit a sunset bomb from the top rope!
Time was running out though and Athena resorted to raking eyes and drawing Grey into a triangle choke. Grey lasted a few seconds, but was forced to tap before time ran out, dashing her hopes of a title match.
ROH WORLD TELEVISION TITLE MATCH: Brian Cage ( c) defeated AR Fox
In the Main Event: AR Fox has actually been on something of a roll in ROH the last couple months. He’s posted wins over Jack Cartwheel and Josh Woods and was part of a few tag victories as well. This is enough to earn him a shot a Brian Cage’s ROH World TV Title. This will mark Cage’s second defense of the belt, as he retained vs Komander a few weeks ago and has been hanging out with the Don Callis Family ever since. He even brought a Lance Archer with him!
Cage, in a very subdued outfit compared to his usual gear, was the same height as Fox, but about twice as wide. In a normal situation, this would be a case of Speed vs Strength, but as anyone who’s seen him wrestle knows, Cage has just as much speed as he does strength.
Fox tried everything he could including a Shooting Star Press and then a full moonsault onto Cage on the outside. Cage was resilient though, getting to his feet every time. Fox let Cage get to close, and got his eyes raked for his trouble. Cage moved into a series of power moves and suplexes to knock Fox silly.
Cage did some bicep curls with Fox, ending his set with a slam. From there, Cage tried a simple chin lock to wear down the challenger. Fox battled back though, hanging Cage up in the ropes. Fox pulled an Elix Skipper and matrix-dodged a big lariat. Cage looked a little sluggish at this point as Fox hit a DDT.
Cage managed to catch fox and hit a blue thunder pumphandle bomb. He tried to lock in a reverse cloverleaf, but Fox was able to get to the ropes. Fox responded with a Code red, but only got the two count. Fox then hit Cage with a spiccoli driver followed by a big 450 splash. Somehow, Cage kicked out though.
Fox set Cage up on the top rope, but Cage swatted him down and hit a satellite DDT, followed by a series of powerbombs, but still, Fox kicked out. Cage hit a discus lariat and a brainbuster and that finally put Fox on his back and out of his misery. Excellent match though! Excellent show!
Reigning Ring of Honor Women’s World Champion Athena will celebrate her record-breaking reign on tonight’s ROH on HonorClub.
Athena has surpassed Samoa Joe as the longest-reigning champion in company history and will be joined by minions Billie Starkz and Lexy Nair to celebrate her accomplishments.
After earning a men’s TV title match last week, Komander will challenge current ROH TV Champion Brian Cage. Komander is looking for his first title of any kind in AEW or ROH while this is Cage’s first defense of the gold he won earlier this month.
CMLL’s Reyna Isis will make her promotional debut as she battles Viva Van.
Rocky Romero will challenge Brandon Cutler of The Elite.
The show will feature two tag team matches as the Gates of Agony face The Infantry while Lee Johnson & EJ Nduka team up for the very first time.
This week’s action was taped in San Jose, California.
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ROH on HonorClub Episode 87 hit the air with big news! “The Learning Tree” Chris Jericho won a Ladder War against Mark Briscoe on Dynamite this past Wednesday (with a little help from one “Large William”, aka Big Bill) making him the new Ring of Honor World Champion! What this means for ROH as whole remains to be seen, but it’s big big news!
Gates of Agony (Bishop Kaun & Toa Liona) defeated The Infantry (Carlie Bravo & Shawn Dean)
With ROH TV Champion Brian Cage occupied elsewhere, his Cage of Agony partners reverted back to “Gates” to take on the Infantry. Dean and Bravo came in off of losses to STP and The Outrunners, so they were looking to right the ship here. Kaun and Liona for their part have to go back to August for their last win as a duo. Both teams had things to prove and it showed.
Kaun and Bravo started things off and it was an immediate case of strength vs agility. Kaun was twice as wide as the lighter Bravo, but the speed factor kept the two pretty even in the early going. Liona tagged in and flattened Bravo who desperately looked for a tag to Dean. Once he got it, Dean was all over Liona… right up until he ran face-first into a superkick.
From there the Gates took control. A series of sentons crushed Dean in the middle of the ring. Dean caused a distraction, allowing Bravo to throw Kaun into the barricade on the outside, softening him up. The Infantry isolated him from Liona and began raining down chops in the corner.
Off of a hot tag, Liona jumped in and cleaned house. At one point he had BOTH members of the Infantry on his shoulders for big powerslams. A miscommunication caused Liona to knock Kaun off the ring apron and the Infantry tried a double team, but Liona was too much for them. Kaun got back in and put Dean down for the count, extending the Infantry’s losing streak.
Reyna Isis defeated Viva Van
Poor, poor Viva Van. Van debuted in ROH on May 27th, 2022. She has had matches against Athena, Harley Cameron, Red Velvet and just last week, Yuka Sakazaki. All losses. In fact, Van has yet to win a match in ROH. Isis was actually in the same boat, but had an excuse as this was her ROH Debut. No matter what though, one woman was going to erase the “0” from the win column in her stats with this match.
The two were pretty evenly matched in size and power. Holds and strikes were exchanged during a prolonged feeling-out process until Van ate a big knee, causing my six year old to exclaim “Oh, Viva Van!”
Isis hung Van up in a tree of woe and driver her knees into her midsection. Van tried to get back into it with a spinning heel kick, but couldn’t land anything that kept Isis down for any length of time. Van changed her tactics and tried a reverse surfboard, but Isis wouldn’t quit.
Isis caught Van with a high crossbody followed by dual headbutts to regain momentum. A big guillotine leg drop finished off Van, who’s still looking for her first win in ROH.
-Backstage Leyla Hirsch cut a promo, revealing that she has been recovering from a shoulder injury. She’s coming back though, so everyone get ready because she wants championships.
Rocky Romero (w/Dunkson, mascot of the Stockton Kings basketball team) defeated Brandon Cutler
Romero was taking a break from his Conglomeration duties this week after his group beat The Elite on Dynamite in a trios match on the Oct 16th edition of Dynamite. Cutler on the other hand has been racking up the losses since getting a win over Evil Uno, back in May. Preston Vance, Colt Cabana, Katsuyori Shibata and even Jacoby Watts have managed to get Cutler’s shoulders to the mat.
Cutler jawed off the top, begging Romero to shake his hand. He did that, and then crushed him with a lariat. Cutler was able to keep up with Romero, but Romero was clearly in control. He had a counter and an offensive move for everything Cutler had in his bag of tricks.
Cutler managed to worm his way into control of the match with a sleeper hold. Romero fought out of it though, but Cutler missed a move from the top ropes and tried to bail to the outside. Romero followed with a big splash and threw him back into the ring.
Cutler tried to use the ropes to steal a pin, but Dunkston pointed it out to the Ref. Cutler began yelling at Dunkston, allowing Romero an opening to hit a flipping DDT and get the 1-2-3 for the win.
LEEJ (Lee Johnson and EJ Nduka) defeated Jiah Jewell and Bret Hankins
Johnson and Nduka have been pals for a long time, but this will mark the first time they have teamed up in ROH. Questionable team names aside, this promised to be a barn burner, showing off Johnson’s technical skills and Nduka’s sheer power. Nduka got a huge pop from the crowd as the two headed to the ring. Jewell and Hankins, who were either two local wrestlers, or part of the ring crew, looked comically small and thin in the ring with LEEJ.
Surprising no one, Johnson started off with Hankins and wrestled cicles around him. Nduka then tagged in to face Jewell and he hit him so hard his hairline receded. This wasn’t a David vs Goliath story it was more like a small twig vs Goliath.
Jewell and Hankins actually managed to isolate Johnson in the corner and get a little bit of offense in. It didn’t last long though as a hot tag to Nduka resulted in the spontaneous explosion of both competitors. Not really, but he hit them so hard both appeared to do 450 spins in midair. Johnson and Nduka hit a spinebuster/neckbreaker combo on what was left of Jewell and got the pin.
Record-Breaking Celebration for ROH Women’s World Champion Athena
Back in September, Athena broke Samoa Joe’s record of 684 days (as of this writing) as champion in Ring of Honor. Since then, Minions Lexy Nair and Billie Starkz have been planning a massive celebration for the Forever Champion (that Athena really wanted Ja Rule to be part of for some reason). Unfortunately, work kept getting in the way with matches, Starkz’ tumbling down the Minion Rankings and Abadon stalking Athena with her eyes on the title.
To start things off, ROH showed a Classic Match: Athena vs then-ROH Women’s Champion Mercedes Martinez. The match was from December 10, 2022 at that year’s Final Battle PPV event. Obviously, Athena came out the winner and began her 684+ day reign as Champion and it was a really fun match!
Back in the here and now though, Billie Starkz had used the time to set up a ton of balloons, a store-bought cake (that per Wrestling Law, must end up on someone’s face) and decorations in the ring. Athena came down to her celebration still locked to Lexy Nair for “her protection” from Abadon. The MIT’s in the ring broke into a dance party and Athena called out that it was a pretty weak party. Where was Ja Rule?!? Athena sent all minions except Starkz and Nair to the back in disgust.
Athena lamented that she doesn’t get the respect she deserves, even from her own mother who shose to have “major surgery” instead of coming to her daughter’s Celebration. Athena clamied she was under-appreciated and deserved more than the crummy party. Athena blamed Starkz for all of it, saying she was jealous. Athena got in Starkz face and she grabbed the mic from her.
Starkz pushed Athena over and proclaimed “I’m done!” before leaving the ring and the party! Nair then tried to get the party back on track by unveiling a modified ROH Women’s Title with Athena’s picture on it. AND IT SPINS!
Suddenly, Abadon’s music hit and Nair dove out of the ring. Athena got ready to be jumped, but… nothing happened. The music faded out, and when Athena went to pull Nair back into the ring via chain, it was ABADON who appeared in the other cuff!
Abadon beat up the champion with a Black Dahlia, then smashed the cake on Athena’s face, fulfilling the prophecy and leaving her laying in the ring.
ROH World Television Title Match: Brian Cage (c) defeated Komander (w/Alex Abrahantes)
I’m beginning to think that Cage just doesn’t like Luchadores. Or at least someone on the booking team doesn’t like luchadores, because they keep getting sent to be thrown at the ground repeatedly by Cage. In this match, Cage’s ROH TV Title was on the line though, and Komander, who picked up a win over Willie Mack last week, would love to add that title to his list of accomplishments.
Cage arrived in a rather subdued manner, in plain black trunks. He wasn’t wasting time though, throwing Komander into the corner and drilling him with some big elbows. Kmander tried to battle back but every time he got a little momentum, Gage threw him at the ground a bunch.
Cage began showing off, as he does, catching Komander mid air and curling him like dumbells (or he was cuddling him. It was hard to tell). Cage then picked up Komander and threw him out of the ring like a sack of potatoes, causing my six year old to exclaim “Oh no, Brian Cage!!”
Cage then reversed his own move by picking up Komander and throwing him back INTO the ring. Taking his time and doing a little posing on the way back into the ring, Cage accidentally gave Komander an opening for some spinning kicks. That enraged, uh, Cage, and he got sloppy letting Komander land a 360 hurricanrana.
Komander had one last burst of energy, hitting a 450 splash from the top rope, but Cage kicked out at one. Komander tried moonsault instead, but Cage caught him and powerbombed him a half dozen times, ending with a modified F-5 (aka, he threw him at the ground a lot). Komander was done after that, and Cage got the pin and retained the title.
Great show this week!
Image: AEW
The first challenger for new Ring of Honor men’s TV Champion Brian Cage will be Komander following the events of Thursday’s ROH TV show on HonorClub.
Komander earned the shot by defeating Willie Mack on Thursday and will be looking for his first taste of either AEW or ROH gold. Cage upended Atlantis Jr. at last Saturday’s WrestleDream to win the title — his first singles title in either AEW or ROH.
The match is expected to air on next week’s ROH TV after being taped on Thursday in Stockton, California. While the two have shared the ring several times, this will be their first one-on-one matchup.
Komander will head into the match on a three-match winning streak in ROH while Cage is undefeated in the ROH ring at 15-0.
For the full spoilers from the AEW Collision/Battle of the Belts/ROH taping including what belts were defended, click here.
A new ROH Television champion has been crowned.
Brian Cage defeated Atlantis Jr. to win the ROH Television Championship for the first time. In what ended up being a competitive match, Atlantis Jr. got a close near fall after countering the drill claw once. However, Cage rallied and pinned Atlantis after a second drill claw attempt to pick up the win.
Atlantis Jr. won the ROH TV title in June at a CMLL event in Mexico City, defeating Kyle Fletcher. At Death Before Dishonor the following month, he retained the title in a Survival of the Fittest match, which also included Brian Cage. In a match on Ring of Honor television in August, the Cage of Agony defeated Atlantis Jr. in a six-man tag match that also featured Fuego Del Sol and Serpentico.
Cage of Agony have mostly competed in Ring of Honor in recent months. Earlier this year Cage and the Gates of Agony turned on Swerve Strickland and Prince Nana, breaking up The Mogul Embassay for good. At All In two months ago, they teamed wth The Undisputed Kingdom (Matt Taven and Mike Bennett) in a losing effort against Dustin Rhodes, Katsuyori Shibata, Sammy Guevara, and Ross & Marshall Von Erich.
